Line & Copy Editor — Contemporary Romance Novel

Job Description I'm an independent romance novelist (writing under the pen name Paige Sinclair) seeking an experienced line and copy editor for my completed manuscript, working title Van Dright Shipping. About the manuscript: Contemporary romance, approximately 86,205 words / 47 chapters. The developmental edit is complete — story structure, pacing, and character arcs are finalized. This project is specifically for prose-level and mechanical editing. Scope of work: Line editing: sentence-level clarity, flow, word choice, and voice consistency Copy editing: grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency (names, timeline, physical details) Paragraph Development: group stand alone sentences into paragraphs where necessary. Formatting standardization, specifically: Internal thoughts and self-talk (consistent treatment — italics vs. unmarked — throughout) Text messages and emails between characters (consistent visual treatment: italics, indentation, font change, etc.) Dialogue formatting and paragraph breaks Please follow or reference the Chicago Manual of Style unless you recommend otherwise and can explain why Deliverables: Full manuscript returned as a Google Docs file with tracked changes A style sheet documenting formatting decisions (character names/spellings, timeline notes, the italics/formatting rules applied for internal thought and texts/emails) so it can be applied consistently to future books in the same series Brief editorial notes on any recurring issues you catch, separate from the tracked-changes itself Process — please read before applying: Paid sample edit first. Before any full-manuscript commitment, I'll send a 2–3 page excerpt (including a passage with internal monologue and a text message exchange) for a paid sample edit. This is how we confirm fit before moving forward. Milestone-based payment. The full project will be split into milestones (e.g., first quarter of the manuscript, then remaining sections), each paid on delivery and review — not a single lump sum upfront. Revisions. Please state in your proposal how many rounds of revision are included in your rate/quote. Timeline. Please include your estimated turnaround (both for the sample and the full manuscript) in your proposal, and flag realistically if you're currently booked out further than that. To apply, please include: A brief note on your fiction editing experience, ideally in romance or a similar genre Confirmation you can deliver tracked changes in Google Docs Your standard flat fee rate for this type of project and estimated turnaround Optional but appreciated: a short answer on how you'd typically handle formatting internal thought vs. spoken dialogue vs. texted/emailed text in a novel Looking forward to working with someone who takes fiction editing seriously and communicates clearly about scope, timeline, and revisions.